Dynasty a trait of Cong not country: Amit Shah

"Dynasticism is a trait of the Congress. Don't impose it on the country Rahul ji", Shah said, addressing a conference of intellectuals here tonight.

DEHRADUN: Taking on Rahul Gandhi for his Berkley remark on dynasticism in India, BJP chief Amit Shah on Tuesday said it is a trait peculiar to the Congress and not the country.

Shah described the BJP as the only party in the country in which internal democracy prevails.

"Dynasticism is a trait of the Congress. Don't impose it on the country Rahul ji", Shah said, addressing a conference of intellectuals here tonight.

He said his own rise to the BJP's top post, despite a non-political family background, is a testimony to the fact that the party gives importance to an individual's abilities and not his lineage.

"I began by putting up party posters and banners and now I head the world's largest political party. It could have been possible only in a party like BJP which believes in internal democracy," Shah said.

He said no one in the country has any doubt on who would succeed Sonia Gandhi as Congress president but asked if anyone knew who the next BJP president would be.

"Rahul will succeed Sonia, Mulayam has already been succeeded by Akhilesh, Lalu's sons will succeed him. These are things no one has any doubt about. Apart from BJP all other political parties have become family centric which place family interest above all else," Shah said.

BJP is a party with a difference because it is rooted in a different ideology, the basic principles of cultural nationalism and concern for the development of the man who stands at the lowest rung of the social ladder, he said.

He said the Narendra Modi government at the Centre believes in a development model which combines tradition and modernity.